Working to Ensure Nigeria Stays Connected DIGITAL REPORT 2021
IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
9MOBILE
WORKING TO ENSURE NIGERIA STAYS CONNECTED WRITTEN BY: JANET BRICE
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June 2021
PRODUCED BY: STUART IRVING
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9mobile is redefining the telco industry in this frontier market as its evolves as a solution provider and overcomes the challenges of the pandemic.
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ne year after Mobile Magazine featured the digital transformation of 9mobile in Nigeria we hear from Ibikunle Jimo, Chief Information Officer, about how the telco provider is overcoming the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in this frontier market. The five-year plan of 9mobile is to drive major fibre deployments throughout this geographically and politically diverse country which is four times the size of the UK - serving a population of 206 million people. “We are now focused on a massive network modernisation, having more reach across the country and focusing on the customer experience,” said Jimo from his office in Lagos who pointed out they had successfully operated through the pandemic as they had been ‘prepared’ so their service had not been disrupted. My role as CIO means I am responsible for technology and positioning the organisation to deliver on BSS and ESS applications that we use in supporting our customers,” said Jimo who has worked in telco for 17 years. Currently, the country’s telecom market only has a mobile broadband data penetration rate of around 45 per cent, but 9mobile already has an operational network consisting of close to 6,000km of fibre and aims to nurture an ecosystem of Nigerian companies in order to build a sustainable home-grown MNO.
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“We are currently in a transition with a lot of modernisation on our network to spread across the nation so we can continue to provide an excellent customer experience” IBIKUNLE JIMO,
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, 9MOBILE
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“ 9mobile ties into the authentic Nigerian heritage of ‘9ja-centricity’, and the remarkable journey of keeping true to the promise to always be 9mobile which is ‘here for you, here for 9ja.” IBIKUNLE JIMO,
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, 9MOBILE
Following the fallout of the pandemic it is now more important than ever that Nigerians are connected in order to work remotely and, according to Jimo, 9mobile was well prepared to serve their customers when COVID-19 hit the West African country. “We were more or less prepared for an event like the pandemic where we experienced lockdown and shops closed across Nigeria. Our customers were able to access our digital channels to buy our products and top up their lines. We were prepared to defend the platform that we have, but in terms of our rollout plans the 6
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actual implementation is now on course again so watch this space,” he said. ‘9ja-centricity’ is the spirit of Nigeria Formerly trading as Etisalat Nigeria, the official first call on 9mobile was made in March 2008. The brand commenced commercial operations in October 2008, with an innovative offering – '0809uchoose'. The offer allowed Nigerians to choose and own their preferred unique mobile phone numbers for the first time. In July 2017, the company transitioned to the current brand identity – 9mobile, to reflect the dynamic and creative attributes
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IBIKUNLE JIMO TITLE: CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER COMPANY: 9MOBILE INDUSTRY: TELECOMMUNICATIONS
that it shares with the people of Nigeria especially the vibrant youth segment. “9mobile ties into the authentic Nigerian heritage of ‘9ja-centricity’, and the remarkable journey of keeping true to the promise to always be 9mobile which is ‘here for you, here for 9ja,’ commented Jimo. 9mobile is in the process of acting on their five-year digital journey to be a leading competitor in the Nigerian telecom market. In order to realise the company’s full potential, Jimo explains how new technologies are playing a key role in serving its customers and its internal operations.
EXECUTIVE BIO
LOCATION: NIGERIA Ibikunle has 20+ years of experience as a technology and business leader. Working for various companies across IT Services, Consulting, and Telecommunications sectors. He joined 9Mobile (formerly Etisalat Nigeria) in 2015 as Director in charge of IT Demand Management & Planning. Prior to that he held various leadership roles, working for two other big operators within the telecoms industry. Ibikunle has a degree in engineering and a Masters in Business Administration. He is a husband to a lovely wife, father to two beautiful daughters, a son, brother and an uncle. In his current role as Chief Information Officer, Ibikunle is responsible for leading technology decisions and transformations in line with current trends and strategic vision.
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“ With technology at home there is no me-time as we had people working around the clock to provide the service” IBIKUNLE JIMO,
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, 9MOBILE
“We are currently in a transition with a lot of modernisation on our network to spread across the nation so we can continue to provide an excellent customer experience. We are leveraging our big data platform to improve our customercentricity via analytics. We are modernising our contact center solution with the adoption of the Avaya One X subscription, while we are also creating an omni-channel for customer interactions.”
Lockdown launch of service platform Commenting on how 9mobile has moved forward during the past year, Jimo said: “We recently launched a new digital platform called ‘ig9ite’, which gives our customers access to not just network subscription services, but access to a whole new world of digital lifestyle services. We actually launched this during the lockdown,” said Jimo who pointed out he was very proud of this development as it was achieved during the challenging times of the pandemic. Addressing how 9mobile is redefining the telco industry in Nigeria as a solution provider, Jimo said the company was evolving beyond the traditional telco. “We are in a digital age right now so we are trying to evolve and provide more services as we are playing in the digital space. We have a strategic collaboration with some partners to extend our footprints in the B2B and 9mobile.com.ng
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mobile Transforming Customer Experience With Avaya
Suite of Avaya OneCloud CCaaS solutions being adopted by mobile will enable the leading telecom operator to meet the increasingly digital demands of its customer base.
“With Avaya, we are shaping a new Total Experience strategy that will make our interactions with customers effortless ‒ regardless of the touchpoint they choose to contact us through. And as our customer demands evolve, we are confident we have the right technology partner to meet their high expectations.” - Ibikunle Jimo, Chief Information Officer, mobile
mobile, a leading telecom operator in Nigeria, has embarked on a multi-year customer experience transformation journey with Avaya as it seeks to embrace a Total Experience approach that strengthens its market differentiation through effortless customer and employee experiences.
Consumed th through Avaya OneCloud Subscription, the suite of contact center solutions being adopted by mobile enable the telecom operator to meet the increasingly digital demands of its customer base by providing brilliant experiences across touchpoint.
Avaya OneCloud Subscription removes the barriers to getting and staying current with communications software, enabling mobile to achieve more through the latest technology consumed on a monthly subscription basis. It also helps mobile maintain software on its premises and maintain management control.
The ttransformation project will see mobile invest in its digital capabilities to compose experiences that provide exceptional engagement across all touchpoints throughout the customer journey while maintaining the highest standards of privacy and security.
Built on open platforms, the solution underpins mobile’s Total Experience strategy by empowering both customers and employees with contextual information, easy access to subject matter experts, and the ability to transition seamlessly between touchpoints.
s to improve agent The solution is also set productivity and wellbeing by integrating Avaya Spaces, a modern workstream collaboration solution for the hybrid work-from-anywhere world, which delivers AI-enhanced meetings and more. With Avaya Spaces, mobile’s agents are connected with all their people and tools—and can meet, call, chat, share files, and mana manage tasks though a single app, addressing the “fatigue” many users face with video-only solutions. Finally, mobile is set to bring these same capabilities to businesses across Nigeria, having signed a new partnership with Avaya under which mobile will provide the Avaya OneCloud portfolio of solutions to its business customers.
Talk to us and start your Total Experience strategy today
DID YOU KNOW...
9MOBILE - INTELLIGENT PORTAL FOR INSTANT NIN VERIFICATION 9mobile launched its intelligent portal for instant verification to help its customers link their SIM cards with their National Identification Number (NIN). The Online SelfService NIN update portal enables subscribers to verify and update their NINs instantly. This unique platform provides 9mobile subscribers an opportunity to submit and verify their NIN without physically visiting any of the experience centers in Nigeria.This step is one of the several proactive initiatives taken by 9mobile to make the NIN linking exercise directed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) seamless and stress-free for its subscribers Commenting on the exercise, the Chief Information Officer, 9mobile, Ibikunle Jimo, said that, as a customercentric telecoms company, 9mobile always
looks out for the convenience of its subscribers by leveraging innovation.“Immediately, we received the NCC directive to link all SIMs with the respective subscribers’ NIN, we challenged our IT and network teams to develop a seamless and stress-free solution for our customers. Here is the result. This solution is the differentiator for us since our customers do not need to wait endlessly for the NIN to link up with their SIM cards. This is what it means to use innovation to solve societal challenges for our customers. This solution is the power of the innovation etched in our DNA.We urge our customers to enjoy what we are known for by riding on the back of our innovative solution to verify their NIN without any stress whatsoever,” Jimo said
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“ We were more or less prepared for an event like the pandemic where we experienced lock down and shops closed across Nigeria. Our customers were able to access our digital channels to buy our products and top up their lines.” IBIKUNLE JIMO,
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, 9MOBILE
B2B2C market. Without divulging too much, some of these strategic alliances will help position 9mobile beyond traditional telco services provider into a full-fledged digital services provider,” he said. 4G and 5G rollout Jimo said the focus is to continue to expand 9mobile’s 4G/LTE footprint across the country to satisfy the ever growing demand
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for data coverage from their customers. “We are lining up trials of 5G in Nigeria,” he said. Ambassadors of 9mobile At the heart of every digital transformation, is the passion of the people within a company and 9mobile is no exception. Jimo praised his ‘passionate workforce’ who worked seamlessly through the pandemic. “With technology at home there
is no me-time as we had people working around the clock to provide the service for our customers.” Reflecting on the fact Nigeria has a population of 206 million, Jimo admitted the future business opportunity for 9mobile was “huge as we serve a big market”.
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